like moths to a flame

are people to television cameras standing unattended on tripods near broadcast vehicles

or the inevitable rubberneckers slowing down to hawkeye a car sitting roadside and 

clogging immense five-lane superhighways

or Pigdom men gawking at beautiful women 

as if they were pieces of meat

he was alert to getting out of their line of fire

trying to sidestep the milling throng that suddenly gets underfoot and robs one of their

traction

he knew of lemmings

and that human nature fashioned human beings as so many lemmings looking to go

happily headlong 

over a precipice to secure their Warholian 15-minutes of fame

he was keenly aware his social skills and tolerance were ebbing  eroding

that his introspection and divining had become his social glass and perspective

he scribbled   I am arrested

it was on a piece paper before he could even think to write it

he read it without knowing he wrote it

that wasnt as troubling  however  as his belief that this culture he swam through shared

nothing in common with him except for the air they breathed

really not a substantial foundation for a relationship eh  he asked as if someone was

listening

though in this compliant consumer state

someone or something might be

1846,  Moanday,  10  6. 13